2016 March 28^th

Let’s see who Patrick J. Buchanan hates today; not surprisingly, it is Muslims, and in particular the Muslim religion as contained in the Koran. Buchanan apparently believes that what the Koran commands Muslims will do. The obvious fact that some Muslims do take Koranic commands seriously doesn’t mean that most Muslims do. Some do not even engage in the required five daily prayer rituals. I had a Muslim colleague when I was teaching and there was no prayer rug in his office and I never observed him at prayer, Nevertheless he was devout enough that he left this country so that his children would be removed from what he considered the immoral temptations offered American youth.

In the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Old Testament, we find some instructions that few people would willingly follow today: From Deut. 13:6-11: If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that, when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them: Then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place; And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard. And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die: so shalt thou put evil away from among you; and all Israel shall hear, and fear.

Similar death by stoning awaits any bride who is not a virgin if her new husband is unhappy about it. Death by stoning is also provided for anyone who is an apostate and starts worshipping idols or who assists anyone in moving toward such apostasy

It is obvious to anyone that while a religion can provide moral guide posts, these guideposts may be totally absent or ignored is some areas. Jesus had some very pointed things to say about marriage; specifically that he would be opposed to the present increase in serial monogamy. (Mark 6:9 and Mathew 5:31) Many otherwise devout Christians ignore this and still have a series of marriages.

Christ did not condemn slavery, a practice well integrated into the society of his time. His failure to condemn the practice was used as a support for slavery by Christians in the antebellum south.

Catholic teaching against artificial birth control is uniformly ignored by the overwhelming majority of Catholic women.

Does Buchanan believe that because these admonitions are in his Bible, or in the instructions of his Church’s Chief Priest, that he or his fellow Christians will surely act on the instructions? Then why believe it for all Muslims who follow the Koran? The notion is ridiculous!